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Ten Reasons to Join HRC’s #AsktheGays Tweet Up

Remember when Donald Trump challenged America to “ask the gays” about his anti-LGBTQ record? Join HRC tonight at 7 P.M. ET for an #AsktheGays Tweet Up. Together, we will tell Donald Trump and Mike Pence what our community really thinks about their ticket’s agenda of discrimination.

Here are 10 things to know about Mike Pence before you join the conversation:

2. Pence opposed the Supreme Court’s nationwide marriage equality ruling, saying, “Like many Hoosiers, I believe marriage is the union between one man and one woman…”

3. Voters in Indiana continue to have strongly negative feelings toward Pence. In a recent poll, only 36 percent said that Pence deserved re-election, and they gave their governor a net negative job disapproval rating. Only 40 percent approved of his job performance and 42 percent disapproved.

4. When serving in Congress, Pence voted against the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

6. While in Congress, Pence voted against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. He said that compliance with protections derived from the law could mean “the employer has to ban employees from having a Bible at the workplace for their break time, or displaying Bible verses. He continued, “We must stand for the right of every American to practice their faith according to the dictates of their conscience, whether it be in the public square or in the workplace.”

7. Pence voted against the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, calling it a “radical social agenda.”

8. Mike Pence signed a bill to that would jail same-sex couples who applied for a marriage license.

9. Pence attempted to divert federal dollars from HIV prevention to conversion therapy. He claimed it was an attempt to ensure that funds “were no longer being given to organizations that celebrate and encourage the types of behaviors that facilitate the spreading of the HIV virus… and that “resources should be directed toward those institutions which provide assistance to those seeking to change their sexual behavior.” So-called “conversion therapy” has been rejected by every mainstream medical and mental health organization for decades, but due to continuing discrimination and societal bias against LGBTQ people, some practitioners continue to conduct conversion therapy. Minors are especially vulnerable, and conversion therapy can lead to depression, anxiety, drug use, homelessness, and suicide.

10. Mike Pence opposed cracking down on countries that target LGBTQ people with criminal prosecution and praised Vladimir Putin as a “stronger leader.”

Paid for by Human Rights Campaign PAC. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.